It’s Esther’s world, and we’re just living in it! In August, Isabelle Fuhrman returned as the horror villain for the first time since Orphan was released in 2009. Orphan: First Kill is quickly becoming a fan favorite, and currently stands on Rotten Tomatoes with an impressive 74% critics score and 76% audience score. In addition to being released in theatres, the prequel also dropped on Paramount+ on August 19th. More than two weeks later, it’s still the #1 movie on the streaming site.
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“Have you welcomed Esther 👧🏻 into your home yet? #OrphanFirstKill is the #1 movie this week on #ParamountPlus,” Paramount+ shared on Instagram yesterday. You can check out the post below:
Orphan: First Kill director, William Brent Bell, recently spoke to ComicBook.com about Fuhrman’s return. The actor first played the role when she was 12, and is now 25.
“Honestly, I would say no,” Bell explained when asked if the script undwent many changes after he came on board. “Obviously things always change with the script in every movie and we’re fine-tuning and developing and honing in on what the story is we really want to tell and how we want to portray her character. There were bits in there that … you know, her riding on a bike, and I’m like, ‘Sure, we can do it and we could do with a double,’ but at the end of the day it was more about the psychology for a character that continued to be honed in on the script. I can’t really think of much that we had to reverse engineer to fit the fact that it’s her. If anything, and there’s something I don’t think people realize, the movie probably would’ve been a lot more difficult with a child.”
He added, “Not only is it harder to shoot with less hours in the day, but she’s playing an adult pretty much in the whole movie. Julia [Stiles] was so relieved when we signed, or she said she was, when we signed Isabelle on because she was like, ‘I was wondering how I was going to play all these scenes against a child.’ In a way, it was like it’s her playing a character she’s so great at and now she’s 24 playing the adult version of that character. It worked out pretty well.”
Orphan: First Kill is still playing in select theatres and streaming on Paramount+.
